Advancing Teacher Leadership to Strengthen the Profession - Ellen Sherratt, Center on Great Teachers & Leaders Patrick Rooney, U.S. Department of ...

Advancing Teacher Leadership
to Strengthen the Profession
Ellen Sherratt, Center on Great Teachers & Leaders
Patrick Rooney, U.S. Department of Education
February 8, 2015

                                        Copyright © 2015 American Institutes for Research. All rights reserved.

Overview
 What Is Teacher Leadership?
 Why Teacher Leadership?
 Examples of Teacher Leadership in Action
 Practical Takeaways and Recommendations

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What Is Teacher Leadership?
“Teacher leadership means having a voice in the policies
and decisions that affect your students, your daily work,
and the shape of your profession.”
                      —U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

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What Is Teacher Leadership?
“Teacher leadership is the process by which teachers,
individually or collectively, influence their colleagues,
principals, and other members of the school community to
improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of
increased student learning and achievement.”
                                        —Jennifer Barr York

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Mission
The mission of the Center on Great Teachers
and Leaders (GTL Center) is to foster the
capacity of vibrant networks of practitioners,
researchers, innovators, and experts to build
and sustain a seamless system of support for
great teachers and leaders for every school in
every state in the nation.

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Teacher Leadership Model Standards
 2008—The Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium
  was formed by a team of educators and expanded to
  include the following:
 • Advocacy organizations
 • Education organizations
 • University partners
 • State education administrations
 • Districts
 • Teacher leaders

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Teacher Leadership Model Standards
 Domain I: Fostering a Collaborative Culture to Support Educator
  Development and Student Learning
 Domain II: Accessing and Using Research to Improve Practice and
  Student Outcomes
 Domain III: Promoting Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement
 Domain IV: Facilitating Improvements in Instruction and Student Learning
 Domain V: Using Assessments and Data for Systemic Improvement
 Domain VI: Improving Outreach and Collaboration With Families and
  Community
 Domain VII: Advocating for Student Learning and the Profession

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Teacher Leadership Initiative and
the Teacher Leader Competencies
 Teacher Leadership Initiative: A program for developing
  teachers who are passionate about leading the
  profession.
 Developed in partnership by the following
  organizations:
 • National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
 • National Education Association
 • Center for Teaching Quality

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Why Teacher Leadership?
1. Teachers were not satisfied with federal policies that
   focused on accountability and limited their autonomy, so
   they strove to become leaders to influence teacher
   policies.
2. Reforms relating to evaluation or differentiated
   compensation created new roles to evaluate, coach, and
   mentor colleagues and assume career ladder positions.

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From Good to Great:
Teacher Leadership Matters
 Preservice teachers highly valued access to:
 • Cooperating teachers who are effective with students and as adult mentors.
 • Professors with recent Grades K–12 teaching experience.

 Novice teachers highly valued access to:
 • Mentors who model effective teaching and provide useful advice.

 Career-stage teachers highly valued access to:
 • Professional learning opportunities led by individuals with recent
   Grades K–12 teaching experience.

 Teacher-leader-stage teachers highly valued access to:
 • Serving in the capacities mentioned here.

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Talent Development Framework

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Teacher Leadership in Action
 Examples include the following:
 • Facilitating professional development.
 • Presenting at conferences or to peer groups.
 • Serving on national, state, or local forums, workshops, or conferences.
 • Meeting with policymakers.
 • Organizing whole-school, whole-grade-level, or whole-team projects.
 • Holding informal leadership roles in improving colleagues’ instructional
   practice.
 • Serving on school or district leadership teams.
 • Serving on national, state, or local education policy and/or public policy
   committees, task forces, or think tanks.

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Teacher Leadership in Action
 Examples include the following:
 • Providing formal coaching or mentoring to colleagues.
 • Conducting curriculum development.
 • Developing collaborative projects with the community.
 • Being observed by less effective peers.
 • Serving as instructional coaches or mentors.
 • Sharing research findings with colleagues.
 • Taking coursework on teacher leadership.
 • Conducting research.
 • Conducting preclinical supervision of student teachers or teacher
   candidates.

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Teacher Leadership in Action
 Examples include the following:
 • Conducting peer review observations of colleagues.
 • Serving as union or association leaders, negotiating team members, board
   members, committee members, or delegates to the assembly.
 • Assuming department chairmanships.
 • Assuming a role where teachers reach more students than normal by using
   blended learning.
 • Teaching teacher preparation at the university level.
 • Assuming roles where teachers reach more students than normal by leading
   a teaching team.
 • Serving as scorers of educator assessments.

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Teacher Leadership in Action
 Teach Plus: Recruits, selects, and trains teachers to lead
  changes to education policy and teacher practice.
 • Teaching Policy Fellowship
 • T3: Turnaround Teacher Teams
 • C2: Core Collaborative

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Other Teacher Voice Organizations
:

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Teacher Leadership in Action
 Where have you seen teacher leadership in action?

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Center on Great Teachers and
Leaders Practitioner Advisory Group
 Composed of 17 practitioners from across the country
  recommended by teacher voice organizations.
 Member involvement in the Center on Great Teachers and
  Leaders work:
 • Review materials and resources.
 • Serve as thought partners.
 • Attend quarterly meetings.
 • Provide a critical voice from the field.

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 Share ideas and best practices and learn from examples
  of existing teacher leadership efforts.
 Identify common challenges and create concrete,
  actionable teacher leadership plans to address them
  locally.
 Network and build relationships with other educators and
  leaders in their region.
 Identify promising ideas for follow-up support through
  future engagement events.

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Who is Teach to Lead?
Over 30
organizations
representing
educators and
other
stakeholders have
signed on as
supporters

   Commit to Lead is an online community to share and
    collaborate on promising ideas to advance teacher
    leadership.
   Regional meetings in winter 2014–15:
    •   Occur in Louisville, Kentucky; Denver, Colorado; and Boston,
        Massachusetts.
    •   Bring together educators with promising ideas from Commit to Lead.
   Foster and grow real-world commitments in teacher
    leadership, without taking teachers out of the classroom.
   http://TeachtoLead.ideascale.com

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www.teachtolead.net

Excellent Educators for All Initiative
 The three-part initiative includes the following:
 • Comprehensive Educator Equity Plans
 • Educator Equity Profiles
 • Equitable Access Support Network

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Equitable Access Background
 The following student groups are less likely to have access
  to great teachers and school leaders, according to most
  metrics:
   • Students of color
   • Students from low-income families
   • Rural students
   • Students with disabilities
   • Students with limited English proficiency
   • Students in need of academic remediation

Source: Office for Civil Rights, 2014.

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How Can Teacher Leaders Be Involved in
This Work?
 Work with district leaders to identify a small group of teacher
  leaders who could potentially be part of a state-level stakeholder
  group.
 Connect with district leaders to gather feedback from teachers
  across districts to share with the state and address equitable
  access locally:
 • Feedback from teachers on school placement, movement, and retention
 • Feedback from school leaders and teacher leaders on barriers to teacher
   effectiveness and retention of effective educators
 • School climate surveys and strategic planning

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Practical Takeaways and
Recommendations
Reallocate resources toward professional development for
teachers to gain the skills, knowledge, and competencies
needed for leadership.
Create “hybrid” roles that allow teachers to lead without
leaving their classrooms.
Promote teacher leadership in policy around ensuring
equitable access, evaluating teacher effectiveness, and
other policies.

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Practical Takeaways and
Recommendations
 Use teacher-led professional development within
  schools.
 Rethink organizational and scheduling structures to
  maximize teacher collaboration time.
 Support the use of technology to connect teacher
  leaders to a wider network of colleagues.

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Questions?

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References
Booker, K., & Glazerman, S. (2009). Effects of the Missouri career ladder
   program on teacher mobility. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research
   Inc.
Farkas, S., Foley, P., & Duffett, A. (with Foleno, T., & Johnson, J.). (2001). Just
    waiting to be asked? A fresh look at attitudes on public engagement. New
    York, NY: Public Agenda. Retrieved from
    http://www.publicagenda.org/files/just_waiting_to_be_asked.pdf
Glazerman, S., & Max, J. (2011). Do low income students have equal access to
    the highest performing teachers? Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
    Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education
    Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Retrieved from
    http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20114016/pdf/20114016.pdf

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References
Isenberg, E., Max, J., Gleason, P., Potamites, L., Santillano, R., Hock, H., &
    Hansen, M. (2013). Access to effective teaching for disadvantaged students.
    Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education
    Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional
    Assistance. Retrieved from
    http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20144001/pdf/20144001.pdf
Kane, T. J., & Staiger, D. O. (2008). Estimating teacher impacts on student
   achievement: An experimental evaluation (NBER Working Paper No.
   14607). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved
   from http://www.nber.org/papers/w14607.pdf

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References
National Center for Evaluation and Regional Assistance. (2014). Do
    disadvantaged students get less effective teaching? Key findings from recent
    institute of education sciences studies. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
    Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Evaluation
    and Regional Assistance. Retrieved from
    http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20144010/pdf/20144010.pdf
Office for Civil Rights. (2014). Civil rights data collection. Data snapshot: Teacher
     equity. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil
     Rights. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-
     teacher-equity-snapshot.pdf

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References
Rothstein, J. (2010). Teacher quality in educational production: Tracking, decay,
    and student achievement. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 175–214.
Sass, T., Hannaway, J., Xu, Z., Figlio, D., & Feng, L. (2012). Value added of
    teachers in high-poverty schools and lower-poverty schools. Journal of
    Urban Economics, 72(2–3), 104–122.
Scholastic & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2012

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Ellen Sherratt                      Patrick Rooney
312-288-7623                        202-453-5514
esherratt@air.org                   patrick.rooney@ed.gov

1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW
Washington, DC 20007-3835
877-322-8700
gtlcenter@air.org
www.gtlcenter.org | www.air.org

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Advancing state efforts to grow, respect, and retain great teachers
and leaders for all students

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